AES Student Blog

Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? Where and what do you study? What audio field are you in? What initiated your passion for audio? When did it start?

I study Music Technology Systems at the University of York, UK; the course is essentially Electronic Engineering with a focus on the design of technology for use in the music industry. I've always loved writing music, my desire to improve the quality of my music led me to become more interested in music technology. I have quite a mathematical background which sparked my interest in the engineering side of music technology.

Are you a musician yourself? What instruments do you play and in what musical context?

Yes! I started learning the piano when I was about 8 and still continue to play it to this day. My sight reading's always been pretty bad, so I mostly just improvise - which is more fun anyway! Pretty much all of the music production that I'm involved in is stuff that I've written and more often than not, I begin the writing process on the piano.

Tell us about the production of your submission. What is the story behind it? What was it inspired by? How long did you work on it? Was it your first entry?

'Dancing on Our Own' is a track that my friend and I wrote and recorded around a year ago. I recorded the vocals in my attic, since that was the most suitable location I had available, with a Rode NT1-A that I bought off eBay for £50. I didn't have a microphone stand or even a pop-shield (we made one out of an old pair of tights!) - so I had to make the best of a very amateur recording setup!

I didn't really have a clear idea about how it should sound at the time, so I went through several different versions before creating the final version, which is just a combination of the better parts from the previous versions.

Accidents happen: What was your biggest mistake in a production and what did you do to redeem the situation?

I was once recording some vocals using an AKG C-414, I'd never used one before and was very pushed for time. I played it back through the studio's speakers and thought the high and low end were lacking slightly, but I wasn't too worried as it sounded okay.

When I got home and listened to it through my reference headphones, I realised I had recorded the entire song with the microphone the wrong way round! I didn't have time to get the vocalist in to re-record the song, so I just used loads of EQ to correct it. The song was actually a piece of coursework and the marker didn't pick up on it - so I guess I got away with it!

What’s your advice for engineers who are just starting out?

My best advice is to know your tools; read the manuals, experiment with them. This will enable you to work much more quickly; it's far better to have 3 or 4 plug-ins that you know like the back of your hand and use on every track of a mix than to have 30 plugins that you ... Of course it's nice to have a good selection of plugins anyway, for when you need something a bit special/different.

The plugin I use most is Wave Arts' Trackplug, it's a channel strip comprising of an EQ, a gate and a couple of compressors and while it's not particularly ground-breaking or anything, it covers most of my basic mixing needs. More importantly, I've used it for long enough to know exactly how it works so I usually know what I've got to do to get a good sound from a given input, which speeds up my workflow.

Although it's a bit of an obvious choice, one of my favourite synths is the Minimoog. I've only played with one a few times, but I always come away from it feeling inspired. I think that it being monophonic forces me to come up with some great ideas, that I'd never have had if I was using something polyphonic.

Can you name one or multiple of your favourite recordings or productions and tell us why you like them/what you like about them?

Okay, here are a few tracks that I've been listening to recently that I think have great production:

Owl City - I Found Love: Owl City is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine, but putting that aside, I love how clean the production is on this track. The electric piano, electric guitar and drum sounds just sound perfect together.

Hunter Hayes - Tattoo: The high end is the thing that impresses me most about this track, I'm not sure what it is but everything in high end sounds tight and combines together perfectly.

What do you like about the AES? How does it help you to become a better and more successful audio engineer?

I always come away from an AES lecture with new ideas and a greater insight about a subject, which leaves me feeling inspired. It's one thing to know how to use your tools, but it's another thing to know exactly how they work, their limitations, and the thought behind their design. It's also great to experience all of this among a community of other like-minded people.

What is your favourite frequency?

I've been thinking about this all day! I'm going to say 41.203Hz in the hope that no one else has! For anyone who's sad enough to look it up (like me) that's the frequency of E1, which is (in my opinion) the note to use if you want to create an earth-shaking sub-bass that most decent speaker systems can actually reproduce.

What do you do when you’re not in the studio or doing anything music related?

When I'm not doing music I'm either eating, watching TV, socialising or doing some sort of exercise (as I can't seem to sit still for more than an hour!).

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Hopefully I'll be making some sort of living from music production, but who knows!

Could you provide us with some closing comments?

Well, I can't pass up the opportunity for some free promotion! You can listen to my entry on my website: http://www.willshaw.net/

Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? Where and what do you study? What audio field are you in?What initiated your passion for audio? When did it start?

I am 23 years old, from Narvik, a small town north of the arctic cirlce in Norway. I grew up playing guitar and piano in various rock bands. I also played the trumpet and baritone horn in the local marching band. At high school I studied music which taught me a lot about music theory, history and developing musical style and portraying emotions through music.

My field in audio is music production as technician and producer. I do most genres of music, but I have still yet to be involved in a hip-hop/rap-session. The important thing for me is that the music speaks to me and has an emotional impact, not necessarily the genre.

I recently finished an undergrad degree at Westerdals Oslo ACT in music production. This fall I am starting grad school in Trondheim at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology where I will study for a degree in music technology.

I was introduced to music production in 2011 when I studied at a one-year boarding school. This is where I learned to use ProTools and I immediately fell in love with the software. This is where I learned that creating music is not always linear or chronological, and you can actually take parts of the song you are recording and edit or duplicate these onto other parts of the song. For me this was like magic.

Are you a musician yourself? What instruments do you play and in what musical context?

Since I started studying music production I have not played in any bands. There have not been much time for anything but hanging in the studio either recording or mixing. I still play the guitar and piano at home when I have the time. I like to play anything from progressive rock/metal to musicals.

Tell us about the production of your submission. What is the story behind it? What was it inspired by? How long did you work on it? Was it your first entry?

My entry to the competition, Paper Bird by Dim Gray was a pretty long production. We recorded a whole album this session so we have probably spent about a month recording in the studio overall.

This was my first entry to the competition, as well as my first time at any international AES event.

The song is about an origami bird that's throwin into a river. Because this bird is made out of paper, the odds of it surviving is kind of small. The song depicts the struggle this bird has with the stream of the river, and the stones in the river crushing the paper bones of this bird.

The lyrics were inspired by japanese haiku poetry.?We played a lot with tempo changes before recording the song, because I wanted to make the tempo a part of the song dynamics. In the mixing process I wanted to stretch and exaggerate the dynamics even more so that the song is constantly evolving. Because the dynamics change with the tempo, it is hard to hear the tempo changes, even though the tempo increases drastically over time when the band kicks in.?I think I spent about 30 hours editing and mixing the song. The editing is what took the longest time.

What was your most significant/funny/inspiring experience as an audio engineer?

Last year I was touring through europe with a band and they played at a festival outside Sarajevo in Bosnia and Hercegovina. I did not have a lot of experience as a live technician at this point and this was a pretty big outdoor stage. On all the other venues we played, the drums would be really loud on stage and we would sometimes have to dampen the cymbals with duct tape and paper.?After setting the monitoring for the band they played on of the songs, and the drummer had to stop to tell me that he could not hear his cymbals well enough and that he needed some overheads into his monitor. This was kind of funny. I would never expect to hear such a thing, but I guess with hardly any reflections on an outdoor stage with humid air the cymbals aren't that loud anymore.

Accidents happen: What was your biggest mistake in a production and what did you do to redeem the situation?

I think my brain has repressed my worst mistakes, but remember recording a simple acoustic song with Dim Gray during the same session as Paper Bird. This was the last song we recorded and we were all tired after 2 weeks of 10-14 hours in the studio. While listening to the playback of the guitar I had the click track running in the control room, and did not notice that some of the click track bled into the mikes from the guitarists headset. This was discovered when we recorded the vocals some weeks later. To remedy this I used a longer reverb on the guitar and vocals in an attempt to drown the click track, as well as some EQ-notching. It did not turn out great, but close enough.

What’s your advice for engineers who are just starting out?

Be patient. It takes many hours of trial and error to become a skilled technician. Every project is different and the people you work with will react to different things.?I don't like to change my plans or setup during the production, but if I have to, I will always go back to a setup I've done before because I know it works. The best thing is to evaluate yourself after the project is done, identify why/what went wrong and make it right on the next production.

Don't be afraid to share your experiences or tips with other people. It will only make you better, and you might get something in return as well.

Can you name one or multiple of your favourite recordings or productions and tell us why you like them/what you like about them?

I recently recorded a Norwegian folk/pop artist called Valborg. She has a great voice and brilliant musicians in her band. One of the songs we recorded is called «Husk på meg» (Remember me) and is a song about death. It is expressed in an optimistic, almost naive way. It's a short song, less than three minutes. For me it is very interesting to work with simple songs like this because I actually feel it gives more room for creativity. Maybe most importantly, it's easy on the ear for the listener and easier for the listener to relate to the message of the song.?(Spotify-link to the song: https://open.spotify.com/track/0D4I55Pf6IRwpA4ccYuW8T )

Another recent production I did is two songs from an EP by a band called City in Stripes.?This is a more modern rock type of production. The vocalist in this production is also very talented The songs, «Let's do it Again» and «Moving on» both have the same tight, punchy expression.?I like how the band has a beautiful way of combining their rough sound with an almost childish playfulness. For me, these are the types of songs that make you want to quit your job and play in a rock band.?(Spotify-link to the songs:?«Let's Do it Again»: https://open.spotify.com/track/4JcId7ulgEUKBrf8xwDrUP?«Moving on: https://open.spotify.com/track/4NT3JVo2qafo07wKVqU93o )

I really like the AKG c451b microphone. I can use it on everything: vocals, guitars, toms, overheads, under the snare, even bass racks. It sounds crisp and tight, but still natural. For me it's a very predictable microphone.?I mostly use the same plugins on every project, Slate VBC for the mixbuss and drumbuss. It adds nice clarity and punch to the mix while smoothing out the rough edges. Waves Vcomp for vocals. This is my favorite vocal compressor, it has a nice, tight sound and is easy to use. My sweet spot for this compressor is about 9-12 dB gain reduction at a 3 or 4:1 ratio.?I wouldn't compress this hard on any other compressor, but I've found it works like a charm on this plugin. Exponential Audio R2 reverb on anything that needs reverberation. It sounds just like what I imagine a reverb to sound like. You can make it sound natural or polished depending on what you need.

What do you like about the AES? How does it help you to become a better and more successful audio engineer?

As a student, the most important thing is the community. Connecting with other students, sharing experience and making friends is what I like the most. I also get to be updated on the latest trends in pro audio business, even outside the music industry which I find very intersting as well. All of this is very inspiring for me which I guess helps me to improve.

Tell us about your favourite experiences at the 138th AES Convention in Warsaw!

I went to a really interesting lecture on audio forensics. I knew nothing of the subject and was completely blown away. Did you know you can actually date a recording based on reading the 50Hz-frequency?

What is your favourite frequency?

I've always been a sucker for the 76Hz....

What do you do when you’re not in the studio or doing anything music related?

When I'm not hanging out with friends I like to play computer games. Espescially MoBAs like Dota 2 and Heroes of Newerth.?I am also quite interested in astronomy. Growing up watching the northern lights every winter has probably contributed to this. My favorite constellation is the pleiades, also known as the seven sisters. You really need a dark place to see them properly.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

I hope to make a living by recording/mixing/mastering bands, creating better music and productions, expanding my network and still having fun with audio.

Could you provide us with some closing comments?

Thanks for reading this. If anyone would like to share their experiences with me or have a chat feel free to make contact.

Contact Sondre at sondreforselv@hotmail.com, to listen to some work done by Sondre follow the links below

Meet Synne Stenersen and William Dahl, who took home the Silver Award for their submission "Fremde Szene".

We had the chance to chat with these lovely, talented engineers afterwards.

"When playing with my own bands I got fedupwith lazy live sound technicians and wanted to become one myself to give the bands theattention and care they deserve." Synne (center) on why she became an audio engineer.

Hello Synne and William! Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from, what did you study? What is your background as an audio engineer? When and how did your passion for audio start?

William: We both recently finished our bachelor in Music Production at Westerdals Oslo ACT,Norway.I have just started working as a producer/ technician in PhatCat studios in Oslo.

Synne: And I amworking primarly as a live sound engineer, touring with several bands and workingfor a rentalcompany.

We both grew up playing in bands, being engaged in local musical activities. I startedcomposing music for theater, touring around in Norway from the age of 15 and thereforewanted to learn the art of recording and mixing. When playing with my own bands I got fedupwith lazy live sound technicians and wanted to become one myself to give the bands theattention and care they deserve.

William: I found my way into producing and mixing after spending time in studios as a musician. My interest in the studioworld grew and I decided topursue a career in the business.

Are you a musician yourself? What instruments do youplay and in what musical context?

Synne: I play the electric guitar and have played in several different genres such as rock, folk music,world music, contemporary music and pop.

William: I play the bass guitar, primarlypop/rock.

Tell us about the production of your submission. Whatis the story behind it? What was it inspired by? How long did you work onit? Wasit your first entry?

Synne:The Production of our submission was a part of a collaboration between the Norwegianacademy of music and our school. We had a close communication with the musicians fromthebeginning of the project, making it possible to experiment with a creative soundscape.Wewanted to enhance the struggle between the string section and the grand piano in thepiano triowe recorded, as the piece features great dynamics. It was a long process, with thepre-production taking most of the time. The recording and post-productioneach took one day.The most inspiring with recording in 5.1 with this setup was realising theimportance of theplacement of the musicians in the room.

Accidents happen: What was your biggest mistake in theproduction and what did you do to redeem the situation?

William:We were baffled by the sensitivity of the microphones, as the noise of the room andsurroundings easily got picked up by the microphones. The church we recorded in has anoisyhidden machine room, which we failed to acknowledge on our initial inspection. Weluckilygot in contact with the churches janitor so we could turn of the machinery on therecording day.

What’s your advice for engineers who are just startingout?

Synne: Take every job you can get, both to getexperience and contacts in the business. Be aware of your abilities and don't put yourself inpositions where you're not able to do the job in a satisfying way.

Tech talk: What are your favourite pieces of equipment(microphones, outboard, plugins), and why?

William: Our favorite equipment is our ears, being very satisfied with the general high quality of the digital emulation of analogue plugins and the great diversity of microphones.

Can you name one or multiple of your favouriterecordings or productions and tell us why you like them/what you like aboutthem?

Synne: Beck's album sea change is a great production, using a lot of delicious effects which blendsgreat with the acoustic instruments.

William:Rage Against The Machine's self-titled album is great because it's able to have great energy andstillkeep a good level of dynamics.

What do you like about the AES? How does it help youto become a better and more successful audio engineer?

Synne: It's fantastic to be part of the AES community and being able to share experience, gettingknowledge and meeting other people in our business. The 138th convention was our firstand itwas a great first experience with the AES. We enjoyed many of the workshops and tutorialsand it'salmost like a festival only with courses instead of bands.

What do you do when you’re not in the studio or doinganything music related?

William: When not working with music we like to be social with friends and collegues. Oslo is theperfect city for people working in the audio business, with a lot of social and culturalgatherings.

Synne: Come visit us!

Perhaps a suitable location for one of the upcoming European AESConventions? Thanks very much for your time, Synne and William, and congratulations again on this beautiful recording!

The student delegate assembly would like to thank our amazing sponsor Merging for being a sponsor of the student recording competition

Merging Technologies is the world’s foremost manufacturer of high-resolution digital audio recording systems. The list of customers reads like a who’s who in the recording industry and recordings made with Merging Technologies’ systems regularly receive the recording industry’s prestigious Grammy® Award.

The company was founded in 1990 in Chexbres, Switzerland by Claude Cellier; an electronics graduate of the Institute of Technology in Lausanne. Prior to this, Claude worked for the famous Swiss audio maker Nagra Kudelski for 10 years.

Within a short time of its founding, Merging quickly established a reputation for their expertise in digital signal processing and associated hardware, and with their Pyramix Virtual Studio, was one of the first companies to produce a DSD recording system. The DXD format, (Digital eXtreme Definition) operating at 352.8kHz/24bit, was developed by Merging Technologies in collaboration with Philips, to overcome the challenges in editing and mastering DSD for SACD.

Merging Technologies currently has over 20 employees with offices in Switzerland and the UK.

The student delegate assembly would like to thank our amazing sponsor Solid State Logic for donating a prize to the student recording competition

From groundbreaking audio consoles to innovative video production systems, Solid State Logic has evolved to become the world’s leading manufacturer of analogue and digital audio consoles and provider of creative tools for film, audio, video and broadcast professionals. Founded by Colin Sanders in 1969, SSL has since expanded to its present 15 acre science park in Oxfordshire, England. SSL's unrivalled resources, including R&D, manufacturing, training, service and product support, operate in a unique high technology, customer oriented environment.

The company invents, designs and manufactures technology for the creative manipulation of sound. Users and industry experts from all over the world visit SSL's Oxford HQ to consult with SSL audio experts and evaluate SSL equipment. There are more than 3000 SSL systems in service around the world.

The student delegate assembly would like to thank our amazing sponsor Telefunken Elektroakustik for donating a prize to the student recording competition

TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik strives for absolute perfection. By offering historic recreations of classic microphones alongside our own proprietary designs based around the distinctive tube mic sound, we have established a product line that perfectly blends vintage style and sound with the reliability of a modern-day microphone. Our commitment to both the sonic excellence and quality of all of our products is rivaled only by our dedication to provide the BEST possible service to each and every one of our customers.

The Student Delegate Assembly is very grateful for the support of Linear Audio, who sponsored prizes for the Student Design Competition, promotes the competition in their magazine, and publishes articles on selected designs!
Thanks Linear Audio!

Linear Audio is a vehicle for publishing technical information, developments and the state of the art of audio from a technical perspective.

It is meant for anyone who is interested in technical audio developments or who wants to contribute to them. Being employed in audio engineering is not a requirement at all. Happy reading, happy writing, happy building and happy listening!

The Student Delegate Assembly thanks THAT Corporation, who again gave IC kits to all of the Student Design Competition Winners!

THAT Corporation, founded in 1989, designs and sells high-performance analog integrated circuits for professional audio manufacturers. THAT’s ICs include analog input and output stages, low-noise preamplifiers, and its original line of voltage-controlled amplifiers (VCAs) and RMS-level detectors – all used throughout the pro audio industry. The company also licenses patents, trademarks, and other intellectual property to the TV broadcast and reception industries. Under the dbx-tv® brand name, THAT offers Total Sonics™, Total Surround, and Total Volume™, TV audio enhancement technology and digital (Verilog®) implementations of legacy TV audio receiver standards covering all parts of the world, including BTSC, A2, NICAM, and EIA-J. The company is headquartered in Milford, Massachusetts, with offices in Tokyo, Japan and Milpitas, California.

The Student Delegate Assembly thanks Real Industry for giving away logins to their flagship course to winners of the Student Design Competition!

Real Industry is an online course and mentorship network to educate students on the roles and needs of the media technology industry, in preparation for upcoming internships and full-time jobs. Students learn about the tools, teams, and skills behind leading how products go from ideation through mass commercialization at companies like Adobe, Pandora, Sonos, Smule, Universal Audio, LANDR, iZotope, and more!

Our first course "Careers in Media Technology", will be available in June 2015. Sign-up at www.realindustry.org/

An overview of the media technology products industry, including the markets and companies, and introducing the roles of software engineering, user experience, product design, and program management.

If you are ready for a career in industry, then continue on for our next course "Real Industry: How media technology products are really made". Building upon "Careers in Media Technology," we explore research and development, hardware engineering, industrial design, marketing, intellectual property, advanced topics in software engineering, and HR / interviewing fundamentals.

The Student Delegate Assembly thanks iZotope, who provided a large amount of their fantastic software as prizes for many of our Student Recording Competition winners!

iZotope makes innovative products that inspire and enable people to be creative. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, iZotope has spent over a decade developing award-winning products and audio technologies for professionals and hobbyists alike. Used by millions of people in over 50 countries, iZotope products are a core component of GRAMMY-winning music studios, Oscar and Emmy-winning film and TV post production studios, and prominent radio studios, as well as basement and bedroom studios across the globe. Through a robust licensing program, iZotope also powers products made by industry partners such as Adobe, Avid, Microsoft, and Sony. iZotope was recently honored with an Emmy® Award for Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Development for its flagship audio repair suite, RX®.